Portrait Artist Forum - View Single Post - Lovely Alizarin, what are you using for a replacement?

Richard Bingham · 02-24-2007, 03:18 PM

Alizarine colors (there's quite a range of caste and intensity from rosy to brownish) hit artist's palettes in the 1870's. An organic, synthetic pigment derived from coal tar (PR 83 - anthraquinone) it is in a class with pigments and dyes developed in the 1860's which made available the intensely brilliant red, purple, blue and orange fabrics which thrilled the eye, purportedly launching the Impressionists' "revolution" . . .

PR-83 Anthraquinone is classed by ASTM as "III" for lightfastness. Not great, but not fugitive, either. Depending on the date of the Sargent, it's possible early varieties were not as reliable as the pigment became later on.

What are we painting with? It depends on who's lying to you. Many of the colors in the range of intense deep reds are now labelled with "romantic" names rather than being identified as a specific pigment material. Labelling with "hue" in the description is not the same pigment stuff associated with the name, (e.g., "Terre Verte Hue") and nowadays the term "lake" on a color label is most probably a misnomer. In the past, "lake" colors comprised a group of mostly fugitive oil colors derived from dying clays and other inert substances with fluid dyes unavailable in dry pigment form which could be mulled in oil. The term "lake" is a corruption of "lacca", wherein seed lac was dyed to produce a pigment solid. (e.g."Madder Lake", the fugitive precursor of Alizarine Crimson, which colorant was extracted from madder root, to dye clay).

These days, there are a number of high-chroma synthetic resin pigments available such as the pyrol reds. (e.g. -Diketo Pyrole-Pyrole) They provide a wide variety of transparent reds analogous to "alizarine" ranging from very warm to very cool. Are these more permanent than Alizarine? Very likely, as this is the pigment chemistry responsible for the abundant number of red cars on the road the last 20 years. Prior to their advent, deep reds and maroons were notoriously fragile for auto finishes as well as expensive. We'll have to wait around another 130 years or so to find out for sure, though.

Oh! Yeah! You want to know what I"m using! I've been quite pleased with Robert Doak's Pyrol Ruby.

02-24-2007, 03:18 PM	#6
Richard Bingham Juried Member Joined: Jan 2006 Location: Blackfoot Id Posts: 431	Alizarine colors (there's quite a range of caste and intensity from rosy to brownish) hit artist's palettes in the 1870's. An organic, synthetic pigment derived from coal tar (PR 83 - anthraquinone) it is in a class with pigments and dyes developed in the 1860's which made available the intensely brilliant red, purple, blue and orange fabrics which thrilled the eye, purportedly launching the Impressionists' "revolution" . . . PR-83 Anthraquinone is classed by ASTM as "III" for lightfastness. Not great, but not fugitive, either. Depending on the date of the Sargent, it's possible early varieties were not as reliable as the pigment became later on. What are we painting with? It depends on who's lying to you. Many of the colors in the range of intense deep reds are now labelled with "romantic" names rather than being identified as a specific pigment material. Labelling with "hue" in the description is *not* the same pigment stuff associated with the name, (e.g., "Terre Verte Hue") and nowadays the term "lake" on a color label is most probably a misnomer. In the past, "lake" colors comprised a group of mostly fugitive oil colors derived from dying clays and other inert substances with fluid dyes unavailable in dry pigment form which could be mulled in oil. The term "lake" is a corruption of "lacca", wherein seed lac was dyed to produce a pigment solid. (e.g."Madder Lake", the fugitive precursor of Alizarine Crimson, which colorant was extracted from madder root, to dye clay). These days, there are a number of high-chroma synthetic resin pigments available such as the pyrol reds. (e.g. -Diketo Pyrole-Pyrole) They provide a wide variety of transparent reds analogous to "alizarine" ranging from very warm to very cool. Are these more permanent than Alizarine? Very likely, as this is the pigment chemistry responsible for the abundant number of red cars on the road the last 20 years. Prior to their advent, deep reds and maroons were notoriously fragile for auto finishes as well as expensive. We'll have to wait around another 130 years or so to find out for sure, though. Oh! Yeah! You want to know what I"m using! I've been quite pleased with Robert Doak's Pyrol Ruby.